Seth Berger earned his MBA in 1993 from the Wharton School and his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from University of Pennsylvania in 1989. Seth has been the CEO of four businesses in the consumer space. In these ventures, Seth has started with a hyper focus on the understanding of the target consumer, with the philosophy that every consumer business must meet and communicate a specific consumer need to survive. After that, he has worked to create branding and marketing strategies to drive messaging that sticks in a world of constant consumer messaging.

AND 1 — 1993-2000, 2002-2005

As Founder and CEO of AND 1, he ran an upstart basketball sneaker, apparel and entertainment company. After starting out selling screen printed tee shirts in 1993, the Company moved into the broader apparel and footwear market. AND 1 reached its height it 2001, when it attained the No. 2 spot in the US basketball footwear market. At its peak, AND 1 had revenues of $285 million, including its licensees. In addition, AND 1’s entertainment division created the Mix Tape tour and Streetball, an ESPN series that was the No. 1 rated show among male teens, eclipsing SportsCenter. AND 1 also donated more than 5 percent of its annual profits to youth-based charities. In 1999, the partners sold a stake in the business to TA Associates, a venture firm out of Boston. In 2005, the company was sold to American Sporting Goods, a private shoe company based in Irvine, Calif.

HoopsTV.com — 1999-2001

Seth served as CEO of HoopsTV.com from 1999-2001. He helped raise $15 million in financing for the business, hired its staff, and launched a site dedicated to basketball fans all around the world. Despite negotiating a partnership deal with ESPN.com, the business was unable to generate enough revenues to continue, largely because broadband capabilities were not strong enough to sustain its business model. Seth shut the business down in 2001.

Lightning Gaming — 2005-2006

In the fall of 2005, Seth took on a part-time CEO role for another start up, Lightning Poker. This business was the brainchild of Brian Haveson, former CEO of Nutrisystem. Brian was traveling the country as a professional poker player, and he approached Seth with his idea and patent. Seth helped raise $1 million in financing, hired a staff, created an automated poker table, and negotiated an international distribution deal with Shufflemaster, a public company. After 12 months, he turned the Company back over to Brian, as part of their original agreement for his term of service. Lightning Gaming now holds many slot machine licenses, in addition to its original product, and is a non-traded public company. More information can be found at www.lightningpoker.net.

Gravy Train — 2011-2012

Seth self-funded a small venture in the mobile gaming space. GravyTrain created a Facebook game, “imthnkgof” (I am thinking of), and launched it in December of 2011. Although the idea was executed well, the market for these games started to crash, led by Zynga, and Seth shut down the business before wasting too much money.

Seth and his wife, Christelle — also a Wharton School graduate — have three boys, ages 17, 14 and 12. They also have guardianship of five brothers from overseas. The oldest boys are graduates of Brown University and Skidmore College, and the younger boys currently attend American University and Chestnut Hill College. Prior to Wharton, Seth was Legislative Director for US Representative Harold Ford, Sr. from 1989-1991. He was, at 21-years old, the youngest Legislative Director on Capitol Hill. As an undergraduate at Penn, Seth was a four-year letter winner, captain and MVP of the Sprint Football team. He played one year of junior varsity basketball. Seth also received the Bowl senior award for service to the community. He is still waiting for his first 10-day contract in the NBA.

Rhyan Truett is the Director of Operations at the Sixers Innovation Lab Crafted by Kimball, where she is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Innovation Lab, including consulting, partnership and portfolio company management.

Prior to joining the Innovation Lab, Rhyan held roles in business operations and public relations with the Philadelphia 76ers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Philadelphia Flyers.
Rhyan earned her B.A. in Public Relations from Rowan University. She graduated with an MBA, Sport Business and M.S. in Management from the Vinik Sport & Entertainment Management program at the University of South Florida.

Board of Governors

Scott O’Neil

Scott O’Neil is the Chief Executive Officer of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, an organization with the mission of becoming the most impactful sports and entertainment company in the world through the pursuit of innovation and performance, the industry’s most passionate and driven executives and engagement in the communities where its properties live, work, play and win.

O’Neil is responsible for the organization’s leadership, strategic vision, operations and growth, including the pursuit and acquisition of sports, entertainment and consumer-facing properties. He is the acting Chief Executive Officer over all properties within the organization’s portfolio and under the ownership of Managing Partners Josh Harris and David Blitzer, including: the Philadelphia 76ers (NBA), the New Jersey Devils (NHL), Prudential Center, a top five-ranked performance venue in the U.S. located in Newark, New Jersey; Team Dignitas, an internationally renowned esports team, the Sixers Innovation Lab Crafted by Kimball, the GRAMMY Museum Experience Prudential Center, the Delaware 87ers (NBA G League), and the Binghamton Devils (AHL).

With more than 20 years of experience in the NBA, NHL and NFL, O’Neil has earned a reputation as a leader of leaders and is one of the most connected, dynamic and driven executives in the industry today. Previous executives whom he has mentored and managed run many of the top organizations in sports and entertainment today; those he currently manages are poised to lead the industry into the next generation.
The sports industry veteran’s reputation for authentic leadership, an unparalleled drive to innovate, and an emphasis on the importance of corporate culture has placed him at the forefront of the industry vanguard. In merely five years overseeing operations for the properties in HBSE’s portfolio, O’Neil led the Philadelphia 76ers to sign the first jersey patch sponsorship in “Big Four” sports history; construct the largest and most technically advanced training complex in professional sports, the Philadelphia 76ers Training Complex; establish an industry-leading Innovation Lab, and become the first U.S. professional sports franchise to acquire a world-renowned esports team. In that same period, under O’Neil’s ambitious and aggressive leadership, Prudential Center has become a top ten and top five most-played venue in the U.S and the world by Billboard and Pollstar, respectively, and welcomes over 1.75 million fans and event attendees through its doors annually.

Of his professional accomplishments, O’Neil considers his organizations’ corporate culture and dedication to community service his greatest successes and future legacy. The Philadelphia 76ers have been named one of the “Top 50 Cultures” in the U.S. by Entrepreneur (2017), three-times named a “Best Place to Work in Philadelphia” by the Philadelphia Business Journal (2016, 2015, 2014), and named a “Best Place to Work in Pennsylvania by the Central Penn Business Journal (2017). Prudential Center was named a “Best Business” by NJBiz (2016). O’Neil’s belief that those who steward iconic sports and entertainment brands have the responsibility and privilege to use those platforms to mentor the next generation of leaders and make the world a better place is the driving force behind HBSE’s community engagement initiatives.

Recognizing the important role HBSE’s properties play within its communities, O’Neil’s employees individually volunteer 76 hours of service annually in the communities where their fans and patrons live, work and play, resulting in more than 30,000 hours of dedicated community service each year. The Philadelphia 76ers’ charitable endeavor, the Sixers Youth Foundation, has additionally raised more than $1 million for Philadelphia-area youth last year alone and is leveraging sports to help children in need.

The former President of Madison Square Garden Sports, O’Neil has had the opportunity to oversee some of the most iconic brands in all of sports, including the New York Knicks (NBA) and New York Rangers (NHL). O’Neil was the key architect in some of the largest deals in history, resulting in record-setting revenue in sponsorships, tickets and suites, while helping in transforming the “World’s Most Famous Arena” forever. Preceding his post at MSG Sports, O’Neil spent seven years as the Senior Vice President of the NBA’s renowned Team Marketing and Business Operations group, where he advised NBA, WNBA and NBA Development League teams on all business operations. Earlier in his career, O’Neil served as the President of HoopsTV.com and held positions with the New Jersey Nets (NBA) and Philadelphia Eagles (NFL).

O’Neil serves as an Alternate Governor for the NBA and NHL. O’Neil’s influence and experience has earned him a place at the podium at some of the largest industry conferences in the world, delivering keynotes at events such as: Leaders in Sport, Beyond Sport, Sports Business Journal’s World Congress of Sport, the IEG Pivot Conference, the Ivy Sports Symposium, Sport Marketing Association’s Conference and more. O’Neil’s leadership practices have been chronicled and applauded in The Outward Mindset by the Arbinger Institute, publishers of The New York Times Best Seller Leadership and Self Deception, as well as in The Orange Revolution by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton. He has made numerous appearances on CNN, CNBC, FOX Business Network, and has twice co-hosted Bloomberg television’s Bloomberg . He also interacts daily with his more than 16,000 and 25,000 followers on Twitter and LinkedIn, respectively.

O’Neil earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from Villanova University and his Master’s in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He currently resides in Pennsylvania with his wife, Lisa, and daughters Alexa, Kira, and Eliza, who oversee the family’s charitable organization, Give and Be Happy.

Chris Heck

As President of the Philadelphia 76ers, Heck oversees content, marketing and branding, ticket sales and service, sponsorship sales and activation, innovation strategy and business development. Tasked with the goal of rejuvenating the sales and branding operations for one of sports most storied franchises, Heck endeavored to fuse the legendary 76ers heritage with the spirit of the new Philadelphia fan.

Under his supervision, Heck led the 76ers to a No. 1 ranking in new season ticket memberships and doubled the new season ticket member fan base, while maintaining a top-five ranking in the National Basketball Association’s season ticket member customer service surveys. With Heck’s guidance, the 76ers sold the five largest partnerships in franchise history, increased corporate partnerships by 30 percent annually and established Patriot Partner and Training Complex founding partnerships.

Heck played a critical role in groundbreaking initiatives that solidified the 76ers’ place as an innovative force in the industry today. Through Heck’s leadership, the 76ers secured the first jersey patch sponsorship in “big four” sports history and developed an industry-changing ticketing platform with partner StubHub. He played a critical role in the development of the Philadelphia 76ers Training Complex, home to the Sixers Innovation Lab Crafted by Kimball, where he holds a seat on the Lab’s Board of Governors.

Prior to the Philadelphia 76ers, Heck served as the President of Business Operations for the New York Red Bulls (MLS), and with the NBA as Senior Vice President in the league’s renowned team marketing and business operations arm where he advised NBA teams on ticket sales and service, sponsorship development and marketing, managed the NBA’s Canadian business and oversaw all business and marketing for USA Basketball’s Senior Men’s and Women’s National Teams. Heck has held senior positions with Villanova Sports Properties, the Miami Heat and Philadelphia Eagles.

Named to Sports Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 list in 2008, Heck holds a bachelor’s degree from Villanova University and has served as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University. He currently serves on the Board of Advisors for MSP Sports, Cooper’s Ferry Board of Directors, the Sixers Youth Foundation and Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame. He and his wife, Mary Beth, have three children and reside in Wilmington, Delaware.

Katie O’Reilly

In her role as one of the Philadelphia 76ers most senior leaders, Katie O’Reilly is responsible for the branding and business development for one of the sports industries most iconic properties. As Chief Marketing Officer, O’Reilly oversees the direction of the team’s brand, creative and marketing solutions, game presentation, social media, digital and video content, VIP events and hospitality, customer relationship management, business development and merchandise departments. Now entering her fifth season with the 76ers, O’Reilly and her team are the brains behind the widely acclaimed “Welcome to the Moment” advertising and “Spirit of the Champion” tribute campaigns as well as new branding initiatives including the recently unveiled 2017-18 season Nike uniforms.

During this tenure with the Philadelphia 76ers, O’Reilly oversaw corporate business development for the team’s new 150,000-square-foot Training Complex; including the creation, development and launch of the Sixers Innovation Lab Crafted by Kimball, on which she currently holds a position on the Board of Governors. Additionally, O’Reilly spearheaded the creation of the 76ers Legends Walk – commissioned sculptures of past 76ers greats that lives permanently at the 76ers Training Complex.

A 2016 Philadelphia Business Journal “40 Under 40” honoree, O’Reilly joined the 76ers in 2013 to lead the new Business Development department where she played a crucial role in securing some of the largest partnerships in franchise history.

Prior to the Philadelphia 76ers, O’Reilly served as the Director of Partnership Marketing for Insignia Sports & Entertainment. She served as National Program Director for IMG College in New York City, where she oversaw the sales development team responsible for creating national programs and media plans for corporate partnerships across 70 plus Division I University Athletic Departments, Conferences and related properties. She previously held positions with the NBA’s renowned Team Marketing & Business Operations group and at Madison Square Garden.

O’Reilly, a Lower Merion native and Shipley School alumni, received a B.A. in History from the University of Michigan and currently resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Edward.

Mike Wagner

Mike Wagner joined Kimball in 2013, when he was asked to lead an extensive turnaround for one of the largest and most diversified furniture manufacturers in the world. After recruiting top industry talent to join his executive team, he and his staff led the largest restructuring project in the company’s 50 year history, while investing in a very robust product expansion, which yielded growth of more than 4X the industry average and an unprecedented rebound in profit improvement. Over the past few years, the company has emerged as a design leader, winning three major awards, including the prestigious 2015 Interior Design “Best of Year” award for the industry’s largest product category.

Advancements with technology will accelerate the pace of change causing significant disruption for many traditional industries, including furniture. Much like the auto industry’s recent conversion to a broader focus on mobility, the furniture industry will evolve its focus toward unlocking human potential and building success in an ultra-agile environment. Much of Wagner’s time is aimed at fostering Kimball’s culture of creativity, and driving business strategies that bridge manufacturing from a capital intensive producer of physical assets into a platform of systemic innovation focused on developing intellectual capital through a network of brilliant partners whose focus is improving people’s lives and building success for each other.

Wagner’s previous career experience includes growing a small family owned business into a top industry player, where he led three successful acquisitions over an eight year period, transforming the company into one of the largest collection of furniture brands in the industry. During the past ten years, Wagner has authored articles and spoken at industry events ranging in topics related to market innovation, workplace of the future, and platform thinking. His career spans over 20 years in the furniture industry, including past ownership of a Chicago based Independent Rep firm, as well as several key leadership positions in sales management, marketing, operations and strategic planning.

Wendy Murray

Wendy is currently the Director of Brand Marketing for Kimball and brings a wealth of industry knowledge and experience to her position. She has been instrumental in rebranding the company and is successfully developing marketing plans and programs to support the new Brand Vision.In addition, Wendy has been instrumental in developing and launching new products, directing all promotional materials and customer facing materials and experiences including social media, PR, collateral and dealer and design incentive programs.Her leadership abilities extend beyond marketing. She has been a key member of the strategic leadership team determining overall direction of the organization. Her influence and involvement in all supporting functions have enhanced the success and collaboration across the entire organization.

Prior to her work with Kimball she was the Brand Manager with OFS Brands and was also the Marketing Director for National Office Furniture where she was a key leader in the re-branding roll-out of the company.

Sherryl Kuhlman

Sherryl leads the Social Impact Initiative at the Wharton School of Business. Drawing on “business strategies for a better world,” Sherryl is strengthening the impact investing ecosystem, focusing specifically on impact assessment and innovative finance. Kuhlman’s approach has been shaped by her blend of nonprofit and academic experience.

With more than 10 years of involvement in social impact management, partnership development, outcomes measurement and strategy, she has successfully focused and grown the reach and influence of the Wharton School’s efforts in this field. Sherryl has served on committees evaluating high impact social enterprises and entrepreneurs, including the Classy Awards, Echoing Green, the Forbes Change the World competition, and the Milken-Penn GSE Business Plan Competition. She joined the Wharton Social Impact Initiative in October 2010, and earned her M.B.A. from the Wharton School after having been a Professor of Ethics at Franklin & Marshall College.

Terry Williams

As a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, angel investor and CEO with a 30 year track record in the human capital industry, Terry has successfully built consultative partnerships to scale and grow fast-paced technology companies in the venture community. Terry has meaningfully impacted the way the Mid-Atlantic region’s executive management and investment community look at building businesses. Along with his experience in the Talent industry and the core skills for building and growing numerous young technology businesses, Terry has acquired an in-depth knowledge and expertise of the critical factors necessary for long-term entrepreneurial success.

Today, Terry continues to applies his skills and experience in the entrepreneurial community as co-founder and managing partner of NextStage Capital, a successful, Philadelphia-based venture-capital firm focused on financing start-up technology companies where he evaluates and invests in undiscovered early stage software and hardware technology and/or services companies. As a continued champion for venture-backed companies, Terry recognized the need for talent solutions within emerging growth firms and founded ORS Partners (ORS) in 2012. ORS is a subsidiary of Cross X Platform (CXP), Terry’s human capital shared services platform. ORS partners with venture-backed and emerging growth firms to provide a white-label solution to their complex talent acquisition problems. Over the past three years ORS has seen great success in helping grow their clients with 6 clients participating in merger and acquisition events.

Terry established The TWC Group in 1996 to share these best practices in using recruitment and talent management to build competitive advantage. In 2006, TWC Group acquired HR Impact to augment its world-class management consulting with HR solutions. In 2007, with more than 100 employees across the Mid-Atlantic region, Terry sold TWC Group to COMSYS/Manpower.

Terry also serves as a strategic advisor and investor sitting on the board of companies including Movitas, LLC, Cross X Platform, LLC and Net Nanny.

Before TWC, Terry served as a strategic consultant to Dialogic Corporation, the world’s leading computer telephony components provider. He helped build Dialogic from a 45-person organization to over 1,700 employees within nine years. Prior to that, he was an independent consultant for DuPont and there helped to build a new division, DX Imaging Corp., which was a joint partnership with Xerox Corporation.

Terry has been widely published in print and on the Internet in such venues as HR Executive Magazine, Harvard Management Update, Network Magazine, Princeton Business Journal, CityBiz List Philadelphia, SmartCEO Magazine, Philadelphia Business Journal and vcapital.com. He also appeared on CNNfn and NBC Nightly News and has lectured at Wharton’s MBA Entrepreneurial Program. Terry holds degrees in Criminology and Psychology from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

StubHub

StubHub

DraftKings

DraftKings

Rothman Institute at Jefferson

Rothman Institute at Jefferson

Board of Governors

Testimonial

“
Working with Seth Berger and the Philadelphia 76ers is an incredible opportunity. The Sixers Innovation Lab Crafted by Kimball is allowing me to grow my company at a pace I never would have imagined. I have access to such incredible resources, and the individual attention I receive from Seth and other industry leaders on a daily basis has been an incredible learning experience for me and invaluable for the company. Every day I am challenged and inspired to think bigger; I am confident the entire industry will be talking about Monster Roster in the months ahead.

“

- Dylan Elder, CEO and Founder of Monster Roster

About The Founders

Philadelphia 76ers

The Philadelphia 76ers are one of the most storied franchises in the National Basketball Association, having won three World Championships, earning nine trips to The Finals and making 47 playoff appearances over 68 seasons. The Philadelphia 76ers are a Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment property.

Kimball Office

Kimball, one of America’s most respected environmentally conscious contract office furniture manufacturers, applies its rich heritage to create workspaces that support an ever-changing world. Focused on designing new solutions, Kimball provides architects, designers, facility managers, and employers with open plan system solutions, both modern and classic desking, and a range of conference and seating options. Kimball is a brand unit of Kimball International, Inc. (NASDAQ:KBAL), based in Jasper, Indiana and recognized with the Great Place to Work® designation.

To explore the collection of products and find out what’s next, visit kimball.com.